recipes with sylvie :: chocolate

hello there my friends, are you prepared for another weekend? this week sure went by really fast! or is it just me? but i actually am very prepared for a soaking up in the sun kind of weekend! yes, temperatures are still very warm and it calls for outside activities! also i’m having another photo session on sunday and though is work, i’m really looking forward to it! photographing children is always such a treat! by the way, have you seen the new pictures on the portfolio site? another photo session with a little girl! more on these to come next week!

so today we’re having sylvie as our guest of honor with some delicious recipes gathered according to a topic she chose! and as we’re ending february and february is the month for love, she chose something really sweet… chocolate! let’s hear it from her! oh, these are mouth watering photos… so be prepared!

“february is the month to celebrate love thanks to valentine’s day, and there’s no better way to celebrate love than with chocolate!  if you know me, you know that i just can’t pass up an opportunity to eat chocolate and in february there’s always a copious amount of it everywhere you look. seems like chocolate must be conducive to romance, all the better reason to indulge, because frankly i’ll take any excuse i can get. enjoy these deeply chocolaty and romance-inducing recipes from around the web!”

dark chocolate cupcakes with rich chocolate frosting from rosie of sweetapolita – rosie says that you would, honestly, never guess that these chocolate cupcakes were dairy and egg free, as they are perfectly decadent. the recipe comes from a vegan chocolate cake recipe she found in an inspiring new baking book called tea with bea: recipes from bea’s of bloomsbury. intense and moist, both the taste and texture will truly go way beyond your expectations.

 

chocolate truffles from sam of today’s nest – sam from today’s nest shares his best tips on making homemade chocolate that is going to make you seem like a culinary genius. you will have a box of homemade chocolates to present your sweetie anytime of the year.

 

chocolate blackberry mille-feuille | for the love of chocolate from sylvie of gourmande in the kitchen – traditionally, a mille-feuille is made up of three layers of puff pastry, alternating with two layers of pastry cream, but i’ve taken some liberties and traded in the puff pastry for thin disks of chocolate and the pastry cream for a creamy blackberry ganache.  this all-chocolate mille-feuille blends the velvety softness of the center of a chocolate truffle with the intensity of dark chocolate, both melting and melding beautifully in the mouth.

 

chocolate nutella and hazel nut brownie cake from sukaina of sips and spoonfuls – for valentine’s day sukaina and her adorable daughter baked together and came up with these delectable chocolate nutella hazelnut brownies. simple, but decadent, they are gooey, fudgy and the perfect end to dinner.

 

dark chocolate mousse and cinnamon meringue pavlova tarts from shaina of food for my family – shaina tells us that these tarts are adapted from a dessert her aunt shared for christmas a few years ago. she instantly imagined them as a valentine’s day dessert.  it’s the kind of dessert that’s gone in a flash, and will leave kids and adults licking their fingers.

now, tell me… aren’t these really delicious photos? i feel like i could go into my fridge and eat the culinary chocolate bar just for the taste of chocolate that i need on my mouth right now! sylvie does a wonderful job as a contributor here on the blog! for more on sylvie’s recipes, please allow me to ask you to explore her blog, because along with the recipes and general tips on culinary topics, the photography is amazing and who doesn’t love someone that knows how to take photos of food that makes us drool, like if we had those plates in front of us? and this is it for now! i hope you have a wonderful and restful weekend!

ps. random question: have you joined me on facebook?